LIFE DESTROYING DRUGS.

NZ Truth, Issue 67, 29 September 1906, Page 8

LIFE DESTROYING DRUGS.

Newspapers' Advertising Morality. Death to Our Babes. Airs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup. No. IV. To ■ those who . know the grasp-ing nature of so-called "respectable" journals, it causes little or no surprise that they daily sell their advertising space to advertisers who place goods upon the market m the way of patent medicines which are not only fraudulent m their claims, ibut absolutely harmful, and often fatal, to those who • swallow them. The journals m question take the high stand that they labor m the interests of the public, and on occasion talk of the high, free, and enlightened press, which is the bulwark of British liberty.. While doing this they permit their pa-ges to be full of traps and plausible snares for the unwary. No attempt is apparently iiiadd TO EXCLUDE ADVERTISEMENTS which, on their face, by their extravagant claims, proclaim themselves to .be frauds. No, their business there is ,'t° pouch money, and the high standards of assumed morality melt aWay.t before the golden bribes of snide commercialism. These papers are bought body and soul by the ad-vertisers,'-and the rattle caused by the sh,ower/of coin renders them deaf to the claims of higher humanity. Any quack may, if he will pay enough,'receive from the swell journals notices lrobming him and his goods. That is an undeniable fact, and the sooner the public realises it the sooner shall it know what credence to cive to anything said m the :ournals. Consistently such journals MAINTAIN AN ABSOLUTE SILENCE regarding -any disclosure made either m police, courts or morgue of. any of the awful effects of drugs found advertised m thft** columns. The finding of juries, „!£. records of Health prosecutions are all smothered up. And for these favors fresh advertisements, are giveti and implied conspiracy f entered into to further swindle and exploit the great . fool! public. The "Peruna" exposure made by "Truth" was smothered by the. Australian 'press, and' the sole reason vfi.s thJtt. "Peruna," which was shown to be" sfich a deadly drug, was Ibeing largely^advertised. These contracts for,j)j)a^ent medicines run into thousand^ or pounds, and on no account mul|if aniy nostrum, guaranteed cure, or itsnie'dy with a weakness for scatter^ gold be offended. These journal^are % ' MOST PROFOUNDLY HYPOCRITICAL, and .while on .one page they will advocate a Pure Ejoods Bill, yet cheekby, jowl will they permit an infamous < advertisement to appear— a cancer\or consumptive cure, which tho ex|rjcise of any common sense must sh^T is ■■.utterly wick*3. It is. not, however , for want of sense or intelligence that such advertisements are not scouted, it is want of principle. Suck big newspapers have no principle when it comes to the question of money, and m common with the quacks, they^wax rich on the miseries of mankind. An advertisement which has been cropping up prett}frequently m, their medical advertisement columns "'lately is MRS WINSLOW'S SOOTHING SYRUP.' This syrup is largely composed o£ opium, and the sleep it gives infants is close always to, and often is, death . itself,. The profits are enormous, and go to swell the fortunes of two prominent New York families. Only recently a oase'was reported m a medical journal by Dr. Gt. M. Cummins. The patient was a three-months-old boy suffering from cholera infantum. At 12 o'clock at night the doctor was called and told that the baby .oould iioi be aroused, and that it had been sleeping for an hour or more, and had ALMOST STOPPED BREATHING. A neighbor had suggested giving the child a dose of Mrs Winslow's Soothing Syrup_, and it had been given two doses" of one half teaspoonful each', one half hour apart. On examination Dr. Cummins found the pupils contracted to the size of a pin head, the pulse very slow, and respirations four a minute. He diagnosed opium poisoning, and Dr. Cook was called m consultation. After four hours' work they succeeded m bringing the patient around all right. The "dortors had no doubt that it was a CASE OP OPIUM POISONING frbm the morphine contained , m the soothing syrup. That is only one case pf hundreds which might be citedi, and even where medical aid has not been called m it is nevertheless a fact that every dose of Mrs Winslow's Soothing Syrup poisons more 6v less. Siiph facts are known to all newspaper men, or should he known, "and there can be no ' moral defence •for. admitting such advertisements to the pages of "respectable" journals.